Encouraging Words Zen Buddhist Teachings for

Encouraging Words is a collection of short talks and brief essays that Aitken Rashi has offered his students at meditation retreats during the past two decades. They are arranged according to themes central to all spiritual seekers -- attention, emptiness, coming and going, diligence, death and the afterlife, the sacred self, and the moral path. Aitken provides guidance on pursuing religious practice in a lay context, "re-casting the Dharma to include women, jobs, and family." He also charts his own quest to develop a set of moral codes in keeping with Buddhism's basic precepts and honoring the enormous ethical challenges faced in the twentieth century.

ROBERT AITKEN (1917–2010) was first introduced to Zen in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. R. H. Blyth, author of Zen in English Literature, was imprisoned in the same camp, and in this setting Aitken began the first of several apprenticeships. After the war, Aitken often returned to Japan to study. He became friends with Daisetz T. Suzuki and studied with Nakagawa Sūen Rōshi and Yasutani Haku’un Rōshi. In 1959 he and his wife, Anne, established the Diamond Sangha, a Zen Buddhist society with headquarters in Hawaii. Aitken was given the title Rōshi and was authorized to teach by Yamada Kōun Rōshi in 1974; he received full transmission from Yamada Rūshi in 1985.

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Words in the Dojo	p. 1
Introduction	p. 3
The First Night	p. 6
Coming Home	p. 9
The World Does Zazen	p. 11
Emptiness	p. 14
Condition	p. 17
The Single Point	p. 22
Carry Your Practice Lightly	p. 24
Attention	p. 27
Coming and Going	p. 30
Patience	p. 33
The Sacred Self	p. 35
Becoming Settled	p. 38
Switch Back to Mu	p. 40
Diligence	p. 43
The Dark Night	p. 48
Simple and Clear	p. 51
Like a Dream	p. 53
The Last Night	p. 54
Afterword	p. 56
Notes	p. 57
Words From the Roshi	p. 61
Introduction	p. 63
The Middle Way	p. 65
Using the Self	p. 68
Ordinary Mind Is the Tao	p. 73
Cycles and Stages	p. 79
The Moral Path	p. 86
Dreams and Archetypes	p. 94
Impermanence	p. 105
The Lay Sangha	p. 107
Koan Study and Its Implications	p. 118
Integrity and Nobility	p. 123
The Net of Indra	p. 127
Nonviolence within the Zendo and Outside	p. 131
About Practice	p. 136
Death and the Afterlife	p. 147
Notes	p. 148
The Syllabus	p. 155
Introduction	p. 157
Lattice of the Dharma	p. 161
Wu-men kuan: Case I	p. 166
The Zen Buddhist Sutra Book	p. 168
Schedule of Services	p. 168
The Gathas	p. 170
The Sutras and a Dharani	p. 172
The Dedications and the Evening Message	p. 180
Mealtime Sutras	p. 185
The Jukai Ceremony	p. 189
Roshi's Introduction	p. 189
The Three Vows of Refuge	p. 190
The Three Pure Precepts	p. 191
The Ten Grave Precepts	p. 191
Verse of the Rakusu	p. 194
Dedication	p. 195
The Sesshin	p. 197
Daily Schedule	p. 197
Leadership	p. 198
The Three Essentials	p. 200
Dojo Percussion Instruments	p. 202
A Glossary of Buddhist Terms and Usages	p. 205
An Annotated Bibliography	p. 224
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Encouraging Words Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students

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